Shep Smith addresses ‘elephant in the room’ that Hannity is Cohen’s third client

Fox News anchor Shepard Smith described Sean Hannity being the third client of Michael Cohen, President Trump’s personal attorney, as the “elephant in the room” during his Monday afternoon program.

Smith is the first Fox News anchor to mention the link on air.

“Of course, for us, the elephant in the room is that Sean Hannity is said, according to court documents, to have been a third client of Michael Cohen,” Smith told viewers. “There’s a statement at The Hollywood Reporter supposedly from Hannity that says, ‘We’ve been friends a long time. He did some legal work for me.’ “

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“Hannity’s producers are working to contact him,” Smith continued. “Since it’s now part of the story we’ll report on it when we know the rest of it. A lot of people here know his number so we’ll get on that in just a second.”

The revelation that Cohen has worked for Hannity came after a federal judge in New York ordered that Cohen’s unnamed third client be identified during a hearing on Monday.

The hearing was in connection with the documents seized during an FBI raid on Cohen’s office, home and hotel room on April 9.

Hannity responded on Twitter, dismissing the revelation by stating Cohen had never represented him “in any matter.”

“Michael Cohen has never represented me in any matter,” Hannity tweeted to his 3.6 million followers. “I never retained him, received an invoice, or paid legal fees.”

“I assumed those conversations were confidential, but to be absolutely clear they never involved any matter between me and a third-party,” he added in a subsequent tweet.

Michael Cohen has never represented me in any matter. I never retained him, received an invoice, or paid legal fees. I have occasionally had brief discussions with him about legal questions about which I wanted his input and perspective.

— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) April 16, 2018

I assumed those conversations were confidential, but to be absolutely clear they never involved any matter between me and a third-party.

— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) April 16, 2018

Hannity also told The Wall Street Journal in a brief statement that he and Cohen had “been friends a long time” and that he had only “sought legal advice from Michael.”

The opinion host is a staunch supporter of Trump, with the two reportedly having dined together recently at Mar-a-Lago on March 31.

Hannity had not previously revealed his connection to Cohen while talking about him on air.